Nature: Algerso (Foglo) Nature (SEPAC): Orrdalsklint (Saltvik)

The time has come to complete the Åland scenery series. The final two municipalities to be featured are the archipelago municipality of Kökar and Åland’s largest municipality, Jomala. All 16 Åland municipalities will then have been presented and a beautiful pack holding the 16 scenery stamps will also be available.

Kökar is an island situated in the outskirts of the Åland archipelago and the southern-most Åland municipality. Kökar is a popular place for tourists to visit. Many come here to visit the Otterböte Bronze Age site, an ancient settlement for seal hunters. Best known among the sights in Kökar is the island of Källskär. Despite its broken landscape and exposed position, the island has been creatively developed with a harbor, several buildings and a lovely garden. Tove Jansson’s painting, featured on a 2007 stamp, was previously on display on Källskär. This is also where the Pitcher of Källskär can be admired, a nature phenomenon formed by the rotation of large boulders in the whirls of glacier waters running under the ice. 

Jomala is located in the middle of main Åland and offers a variety of nature experiences. Kjell Söderlund shot the stamp photo at Hammarudda on the border of the Åland Sea. In Jomala, however, we also find open fields, deciduous woodland meadows and Ice Age formations. It is not known from where the name Jomala originates but theories suggest that “jom” comes from the name of the Viking god Jom and that “ala” means “place”. Therefore, Jomala would mean “the place where Jom is worshipped”. Prehistoric sites have been found in Jomala, just like in Kökar. Jettböle, a Stone-Age settlement dated to approx. 2500–2000 B.C., is one of the most renowned ancient sites in Finland, where most findings have been discovered.

The Jomala stamp is also this year’s Åland SEPAC stamp. Every other year, the members of the Small European Postal Administrations’ Cooperation, SEPAC, issue a joint folder, Beautiful Corners of Europe. The folder was first issued in 2007. This year’s folder holds the stamps from 12 small, European postal administrations.

Issue name: Nature and Nature (SEPAC)

Value: two stamp Inrikes (€0.85) (Kökar), Europa (€0.90) (Jomala) (Sepac)

Issue: 16-IX-2009

Designers: Andy Horner (Kökar), Kjell Söderlund (Jomala)

Perforation: 13×13

Technique: Offset

Printer: The Lowe Martin Group